Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security

Indonesia, Intelligence and Security

Once the Netherlands's colonial stronghold in the Asian Pacific
region, Indonesia gained its independence in 1949. The nation fell under
military-influenced authoritarian rule for four decades, but began the
transition to demilitarized, popular government in 1985. Since that time,
the archipelago nation has strived to flourish despite persistent problems
such as growing poverty, tribal and ethnic tensions, territorial disputes,
government corruption, and political turmoil. Despite these issues, the
government has taken crucial steps to reform and rebuild the
nation's intelligence and security communities.

The Indonesian president and the commander of the armed forces administer
the Council for the Enforcement of Security and the Law (DPKN). The
council is composed of representatives from the nation's government
ministries and five main religious councils. DPKN coordinates
intelligence and security force responses to national security threats,
utilizing the resources of both military and civilian agencies.

Indonesia has several small civilian intelligence agencies responsible for
specific security functions, such as counterintelligence, antiterrorism
efforts, government protective services, and media relations. These
operational divisions are largely autonomous, but work under the limited
direction and coordination of the largest civilian agency, the State
Intelligence Coordinating Agency (BAKIN). BAKIN focuses mainly on domestic
intelligence information, especially information regarding national
defenses.

Another government agency, the Coordinating Agency for National Stability
(BAKORSTANAS), combines intelligence and law enforcement activities. The
agency is tasked with ferreting out anti-government organizations in
Indonesia. However, BAKORSTANAS has few legal limitations on its
operations, often detaining and interrogating political dissidents. The
agency is under suspicion of human rights violations from several
international humanitarian organizations. International criticism prompted
the Indonesian government to reform some of the sub-departments of the
agency. BAKORSTANAS gained the ability to intervene in social conflicts
such as strikes and worker's disputes, but reforms also limited its
powers to control action forces without government consent.

Indonesia maintains a three-branch military, including an army, navy, and
air force. Each branch of service employs its own strategic intelligence
forces within its operations units. BAIS is the nation's main
military intelligence agency, and as such oversees and coordinates the
efforts of various military intelligence forces. Indonesian military
intelligence focuses on foreign intelligence information, especially that
garnered from communications surveillance. In recent years, the Indonesian
government has made the actions of military intelligence agencies more
directly responsible to the DPKN in order to gauge political sentiment
within the military and prevent the rise of insurgent groups.

One of the most pressing political and security problems plaguing the
Indonesian government was resolved in 2002. In August 1999, the Timor
region approved a referendum for independence. After garnering
international criticism for their policies and actions regarding Timor,
the Indonesian government agreed to the region's appeal for
sovereignty. On May 20, 2002, the international community recognized the
region, now called East Timor, as an independent state.

Reforms continue to address international concerns of past human rights
violations by Indonesia's military and former regime. The nation
also embarked on ambitious banking and finance reforms to meet
International Monetary Fund (IMF) standards. Despite progress in changing
the nation's infrastructure to increase Indonesian participation in
the international organizations, political extremist and terrorist groups
operating within Indonesia's national borders undermine the
nation's status in the international community.